


we make the rules

by abbyscameron



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, F/M, also so minor merlex and merjo because i love them, and i cope by writing fanfics, and i have a lot of feels, another "fix it" fic for 16x16, because that episode was just an epic disaster, some fluff/some angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-05
Updated: 2020-05-05
Packaged: 2021-03-03 00:21:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,229
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24025744
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/abbyscameron/pseuds/abbyscameron
Summary: All that mattered was that they loved each other and they would do anything for the other.They made the rules in their life. Not anyone else.
Relationships: Alex Karev/Jo Wilson Karev, Meredith Grey & Alex Karev, Meredith Grey & Jo Wilson Karev
Comments: 2
Kudos: 46





	we make the rules

**Author's Note:**

> This was born because I'm just Jolex trash and I have a lot of damn feels and I'll never be okay with that damn episode. 
> 
> never in a million years will I be okay with 16 years of character developed being fucked over

“Has Alex said anything to you?” 

Meredith glanced up from her table to glance at Jo. She knew, technically, that it could have been  _ slightly _ overbearing going to Meredith; but she was tired of Alex being weird. It seemed like no matter what she did; Alex refused to open up to her about whatever he was dealing with. 

Really all she wanted to know was if her husband was okay. And if the only thing she could do to figure that out was go to his person, then that’s what she was going to do. 

Meredith sighed. “He hasn’t said anything to me, either. Which, mind you, is totally not like him.” 

Jo slumped against the nurse’s station and stuck a loose strand of hair behind her ear.  _ Well that wasn’t helpful. _

Meredith placed the tablet on the nurse’s station and turned to face her. “Okay, what’s going on in your head?”

Jo just raised an eyebrow as she glanced at Meredith. 

“And don’t try to say nothing. What’s running through your head, right now.” Meredith said, gently as if she didn’t want to run Jo off. Which truthfully might have happened if Jo had been the same person she was a few months ago. 

“I’m scared,” Jo admitted, her voice nothing more than a whisper. She felt a weight leave her shoulders saying that out loud. 

Meredith didn’t respond, just stood there, allowing Jo the space and time to continue if she wanted to. 

Jo took a deep breath to steel herself. Before she knew it, she was opening up to Meredith about the patient she just had. She opened up about all her feelings and fears and everything in between. 

“It’s stupid, though,” she added at the end, trying and  _ failing _ to brush it off. Something she was always used to doing with Paul, who always made her feel like her emotions, feelings and fears never mattered. 

Meredith shook her head. “No it’s not. It’s completely valid.” Meredith placed her hands and either of Jo’s shoulders. “ _ Your _ feelings are valid. Never forget that.” 

“And if you want,” Meredith added, stepping away. “I can kick his ass.” 

“No, you don't’ have to,” Jo laughed, but she thought for a moment. “Unless you  _ absolutely _ want to, then I won’t stop you.”

* * *

“Talk to your wife!” Meredith yelled through the phone as soon as Alex picked it up. He was definitely taken aback because he sure wasn’t expecting that. 

Alex blinked and then remembered that Meredith couldn’t see him. “What?” he said instead. 

“You’re being weird and Jo is realizing it,” Meredith responded. “She thinks something’s up. And  _ she’s scared _ , Alex. So get your head out of your ass and  _ talk to your wife _ about whatever is going on with you.”

Alex felt like he was punched in the gut as he finished the call with Meredith. He had been avoiding talking about what Izzie told him, instead choosing to push it away so he could focus on Pac North and his other side project he’d been working on.

At least for the time being, anyway. 

Alex knew he had to think about it eventually, he had to _talk_ about it eventually. But he was so gobsmacked about finding out he had _kids_ ; he didn’t even know how to form actual sentences about it. Let alone allow himself to think about it. 

Besides that, he had so much to do at the hospital, he was actively turning it around and he felt  _ good  _ about it. Alex Karev, former demon spawn, was actually making a damn difference. 

It felt great. 

Alex hadn’t even realized that of course Jo would have picked up on something. She wasn’t blind after all. 

_ Shit… _

He was now realizing his actions were similar to her depressive episode and he was mentally kicking himself. He was a fucking ass. 

Alex really needed to talk to her, and soon. 

* * *

Jo sat at the kitchen island with a glass of wine, wondering if she was going to see Alex at a decent time tonight. She was also wondering if he was even going to come home while she was awake. Within the past few weeks, he’d been coming home after she’d already gone to bed and had left before she woke. 

Her own thoughts were answered by the loft door sliding open. She turned her head to see Alex stepping through the doorway. He was definitely struggling with the amount of things he was carrying, or more so, trying to. 

Jo took pity on him. She sat her glass down and walked over to help him with the door. He mumbled a thanks as he made his way over to the couch, dropping some of the bags on the cushion before making his way to the kitchen. 

“Alex, what the hell is going on?” 

Alex had a sheepish grin on his face as he sat more bags on the counter, which Jo finally realized were filled with take out containers. 

“I got Thai food on my way home,” he said, gesturing to the containers he was placing on the counter. “And I got your favorite wine, along with some other stuff,” he pointed at the bags on the couch. “I know this doesn’t even begin to make up for the complete ass I’ve been lately; but hopefully it’s a start.” 

Jo crossed her arms over her chest as she walked towards the kitchen. “We still need to talk.” 

“And we will...we are...over dinner.” 

Jo relented, closing the rest of the distance. She helped Alex dish out the take out onto plates from the cabinet. Once the two of them were seated at the table and Jo had grabbed her wine glass, Jo steeled herself for whatever was coming. 

Though in retrospective, she felt like if Alex was leaving her, he wouldn’t pull out all the stops to do so. There wouldn’t be a need to put on a show, or go through the motions of a dinner from her favorite Thai place. 

“Alex ---” 

“Jo --.”

They both share an awkward chuckle and Jo hated it. Things had never been this awkward between them, unless you counted that period of time in her depressive state. Jo motioned for Alex to go ahead. 

“I don’t know how to say this. Hell, I’m having a damn hard time wrapping my own head around it,” Alex said. 

Jo took a bite from her food as she stared at Alex, wondering where he was going with this. 

“Ihavekids!” he blurted out. 

Jo stopped mid chew, shocked at the words she thought she heard. Because there was no way that Alex had actually said that he had kids. 

“I have kids,” Alex repeated, slower this time, running a hand over his face. “Twins, actually.” 

Jo finished chewing and swallowed, her eyes widening. “Yeah, that’s a lot to take in and it explains why you’ve been weird lately.” 

Alex stopped with his glass halfway to his mouth. “I’ve been a complete jackass to you, you can admit it. Mer all but said it anyway...I just.” he took a sip. “I didn’t know what to do, I didn’t know how to get my head on straight about it. And I didn’t even know who to talk to about it while I sorted everything before I came to you.” 

“You could have just come to me,” Jo said, softly. “You know at first I thought this was just payback for what I did to you.” 

“I would never throw that back in your face,” Alex said immediately.

“I know.” 

They lapsed into a silence, the only sound in the space their forks gliding across their plates. Jo was giving Alex the opportunity to go at his own pace, like he once allowed her. 

“I reached out to Izzie when I reached out to everyone else about Mer’s case,” Alex continued, setting down his fork. “That’s all it was supposed to be, but then I heard kids in the background and damn it if I didn’t ask.” 

“She used the  embryos ; which was in her right, I said she could do whatever she wanted with them once we got divorced... _ twins _ though, Eli and Alexis; they’re five. They live on a fricking farm in Kansas and Izzie’s an surgical oncologist out there and she’s married to a fricking farmer. Apparently they’ve been together the past two years.” 

Jo let out a breath, the married part lifting a weight she didn’t realize had settled on her shoulders. Though just a little, there was still the demon in the back of her mind, whispering, taunting her that Alex could still leave. 

“Do...do you,” Jo tilted her head. “You are going to meet them, right?”

“I don’t know Jo,” he admitted, leaning back against his chair. “I mean, yeah I’m their biological father; but they have a dad. But they’re still my kids.” 

“Even though they have a dad; they deserve to at least know their biological father. They don’t deserve to grow up wondering who he is or making up stories in their heads of the man he was.” 

“I have some personal time saved up...I guess I can take some days and fly out there, leave Pac North in Webber’s hands. He shouldn’t screw it up too bad.” Alex reached across the table then and grasped her hand. He looked directly in her eyes as he spoke. “This doesn’t mean anything. I’m not going to leave you, I’m never going to leave you. I’m a better man with you. I’m with you. You’re the love of my life and the only thing in my life that’s ever made any sense. All I want in life is to be your husband and the father of your kids.” 

Jo used her free hand to swipe away the tears that had escaped her eyes. She just nodded, not trusting herself to speak without her voice cracking. 

“Which brings me to my next point…” 

Jo blinked away the tears. “There’s more?”

“I want to start a life, a family with you, eventually if that’s what you want. I know we haven’t really talked about it too much; but I want that to be a part of the future for us. So, I may have also been looking into the house market….I know it’s even more to take in and you don’t have to agree to anything now but --”

Jo cut him off. “No, Alex. I’ll-- We’ll look into the listings.” 

Alex lit up. “Really?”

“Well if we’re going to eventually start a family together, we should probably have a bigger space,” Jo glanced around at the loft and smiled. “Yeah, this place was our home for a while and it’s been fricking great; but with kids, I’d want a yard so that they could run and play and maybe a porch swing.” 

“We can have whatever you want.” 

Jo reached for her fork to scoop up another bite. “You really have been busy.”  Alex just shrugged. “I had some free time.” 

“With running an entire hospital? Really?”

“Multitasking.” 

Jo snorted. “Yeah, I’m sure.” 

They lapsed into easy going conversation for the rest of their meal. Alex informing her about all the changes he was hoping to do at Pac North, how he was loving having this change to really put the hospital on the map, to actually make a difference. Jo shared some of her latest ridiculous patients, especially the bachelor party guy. 

“Wait, they literally swallowed fish?” Alex said on a scoff when they were cleaning and putting away the dishes. 

Jo nodded. “Yup.” 

Alex just shook his head as he closed the cabinet door. He shuffled over to his bag to grab his tablet, while Jo grabbed the bottle of wine and two glasses. “About those houses though.”

Alex held up the tablet and motioned towards the couch. “Right here.” 

It was nice, sitting on their couch, drinking wine, looking at houses,  _ actively  _ planning their future. Despite all the anxiety and nerves she’d been under for the past few weeks, the distrust she was feeling, she couldn’t help but smile. 

Alex really was the one, had been the only one to truly see her. It didn’t matter what life threw at them, what tried to force them apart, if they didn’t make sense, nothing mattered. All that mattered was that they loved each other and they would do anything for the other. 

They made the rules in their life. Not anyone else. 

“Let’s make a promise,” she said and Alex glanced at her.

“What?”

“That from this moment on, we’ll always communicate to each other. No more dodging, no more slinking away into our heads or our own little bubbles. We won’t hide from each other, we’ll just talk. Even if at first it’s just a ‘hey, i’m going through something right now, but I need time to process - just wanted to let you know’ or something similar. So that we don’t freak out.” 

Alex nodded. “It’s a pact, right here, right now.” He held up a fist with his pinkie raised. 

Jo raised an eyebrow. “A pinkie promise, what are you, five?”

“A pinkie promise is very serious,” Alex defended with a shrug. 

Jo just smiled and hooked her own pinkie finger to his. “You’re ridiculous, you know, but I love you.” 

“I love you too.” 

  
  
  
  


**Author's Note:**

> At least though I have fanfic to get me though. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
